More than just a 4% undergraduate admission rate is keeping people out of Columbia University. As another new semester kicks off behind closed gates, uptown locals want the campus reopened to the public for the first time since 2023. Last week, Morningside Heights Community Coalition (MHCC) organizers staged the fifth protest in the past two years calling for restored open access to the school grounds. And they say momentum is on their side.
“This was far and away the largest of the protests,” said MHCC President Dave Robinson. “We had more elected officials [and] co-sponsoring organizations there. We had more speakers and we had more people attending. It showed that this issue has not died down at all but rather the anger on the part of the community is really accelerated.”
Back in late 2023, pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupted on college campuses across the country. But Columbia University, which boasts a deep history of student activism, drew the most attention. Officials subsequently closed the campus to the public. The restrictions remain today.
Now, barricaded checkpoints staffed by security guards welcome students and staff onto campus. Approved guests receive a unique QR code and must bring a government-issued ID.
These restrictions also impact nearby Harlem, says Assemblymember Jordan J.G. Wright, who spoke at the protest. The state lawmaker and former educator recounted how growing up near Columbia University and visiting the campus inspired him “to understand what higher education was and what it could mean for any young person in [his] community.”
State Senator Cordell Cleare also participated in the rally and recalled admiring the campus and its buildings as a young person growing up in Harlem.
“It’s wonderful that this [protest] has brought so many sectors of this community together,” said Cleare. “Columbia should look at how many of us have come together. Every segment has come together, different ethnicities, blocks, educational backgrounds, [and] levels of income. All these people agree. It’s a part of New York, what do you mean gated off? It should be open to all of us…people have brought their children to say ‘one day this is someplace you can go to.’ This is part of the community.”
A Columbia spokesperson pointed to new university president Jennifer L. Mnookin’s announcement of initial steps toward increasing campus access. She will form an advisory committee composed of students, professors, school staff, and locals while also easing, but not lifting, restrictions for guests.
“Reopening our gates responsibly will require us to learn from our recent experience, assess risks, listen to different perspectives, and be willing to adjust as circumstances change,” wrote Mnookin. “It will also require us to resist framing the choice as one between an open campus and a safe one. I do believe we can find a wise path forward together and the Campus Access Advisory Committee will help us get there in the months ahead.”
A previous advisory committee was formed under Mnookin’s interim predecessor, Katrina Armstrong, early last year. But little came from those efforts, and MHCC organizers say the reception to these measures is largely lukewarm. As the university mulls over its options, it also faces legal action over restricting campus access.
Earlier this month, the Mamdani administration quietly supported reopening Columbia’s “College Walk” to the public through a city law department filing for a lawsuit brought by local residents against the university over the closure. “The City supports reopening of the walkway through the Columbia University Campus to the public,” wrote assistant corporation counsel Rachel Moston.
The walkway connects Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue, and without public access, pedestrians must walk around the campus, which spans from 116th Street to 120th Street. Cleare, who chairs the State Senate’s Aging Committee, believes restricting access is causing an accessibility issue. “There’s not a block there if you live east of Broadway, this is a cut across that you don’t have to walk around,” she said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the son of a Columbia professor, previously introduced legislation challenging the university’s nonprofit tax exemptions while serving on the state assembly. But the school is significantly more beholden to federal funding than at the city or state level.
MHCC Program Director Dan McSweeney says the protests against a campus closure also stem from fighting for academic freedom and expression in the face of the Trump administration, which responded to the student demonstrations by threatening funding freezes and targeting notable student protesters such as Mahmoud Khalil. He also pushed back on the safety concerns used to justify restricting public access.
“It sends the very wrong message to international or domestic students [and] their families,” said McSweeney. “Our neighborhood is not a dangerous place. West Harlem is not a dangerous place. And if people come to Columbia and they see these locked gates and hear that it’s about safety, they might get the wrong impression that they’re studying in a crime-ridden neighborhood and that’s simply not the case at all.”
Wright also disputed the campus closure as a safety measure. “The village of Harlem has been open to Columbia University for generations,” he said. “It’s not fair that Columbia gets to close its gates to Harlem now. No matter where the students are from, no matter what kind of safety issues they might think might be the case, it’s been done before [and] we can keep the gates open and maintain everybody’s safety.”
